Back pain may be caused by many conditions including bulging, ruptured or herniated discs between vertebrae in the lumbar region of a patient's spine. Such conditions are treated by means of either invasive surgery which has inherent risks or less invasive manipulative techniques. Temporary and permanent pain relief can be achieved using traction devices which are widely used by clinicians such as physiotherapists during patient consultations. One of the shortcomings of the traction devices used by clinicians is that they are often large and expensive, making these devices unsuitable for home use.
An example of the traction device suitable for home use is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,315,750 by J. T. Gray. The US patent describes a lumbar traction device that is used while the patient is in a seated position and comprises a pair of rigid side members that, when in use, extend from under the arms of the user to a chair. Extending between the side members is a slidably mounted girdle that slides along the rigid members in a vertical direction. The girdle is secured in a desired vertical position by load bearing straps that pass over the top of the rigid side members and are secured to the girdle by way of hook and loop type fasteners. When in use, the girdle is suspended by the straps and the portion of the user's weight that is supported by the girdle is removed from the lumbar portion of the user's spine.
In our view one of the disadvantages of the device described in the US patent is that when the device is worn by the patient the device is a major obstacle to the mobility of the user and would prevent the user from readily moving between seated and standing positions.
Other possible difficulties with the device described in the US patent is that the rigid side members may be relatively unstable and prone to movement or swaying in a side-to-side direction or in a back-and-forth direction. In addition when the device is in use, the bottoms of the rigid side members will be prone to moving outwardly away from each other and the tops of the side member will be prone to moving inwardly toward each other. The free movement of the rigid side members is likely to create discomfort for the user by the rigid side members bearing against the rib cage of the user.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an alternative lumbar traction device.